January 22 '07: Emergency management officials near Richmond, Kentucky have constructed a backup operations center to support the local Berea area in case of a disaster. The new EOC, officials told the Richmond Register has "all the necessary components for an efficient emergency response." Funds from state and federal governments and the Army helped to install the EOC.

The Richmond Register reported, "$10,000 was given by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Army to assist in this estimated $100,000 project. ... Berea now has 12 [computers] and officials hopes [sic] to get 18 total," according to Carl Richards, the director of the Madison County Emergency Operations Center in Berea.

Currently, there are two EOC's. One in Richmond and now the new backup in Berea. "If a countywide disaster was to occur, half of the Richmond would relocate to the Berea facility. It also would serve as an alternate location if something were to happen to the Richmond facility."

City law enforcement officials said the new facility will make response operations and disaster management more efficient in the area. Richards told the Register, "If something were to happen (in Berea) before we had the backup location functioning, it would have been hours in order to get people there ... If we needed to run emergency procedures there, we could do it today, and it would be a place where we could take care of all of Madison county."